本研究試圖建構出二、三○年代臺灣新文學都市書寫的發展脈絡；並藉著都市書寫的發展脈絡重新審視既有以農村、貧民為中心的日治時期臺灣文學論述，進而反思當代研究者在國族命運、反殖民、抵抗精神等「大敘述」中過分偏重「殖民性」、現代性反而遭到虛位化、扁平化的「殖民地現代性論述」。
日治時期臺灣的都市書寫幾乎與新文學的發軔同步肇生，且在發展之初始便奠定下帝都東京╱臺灣（主要是島都臺北）的「雙軸架構」；就概念而言，這兩條軸線並非處於一種兩個都市的「平行結構」；兩個都市之間更存在著：就殖民關係而言是殖民母國帝都╱殖民地首都（都市）的殖民者╱被殖民者關係；以及就現代進程而言是先進國╱後進國──這樣一種「重層」的權力關係。
一九二二至三七年間的都市書寫發展，大致可以《フォルモサ》創刊於東京的一九三三年為界，斷為兩個時期。第一個時期由於臺灣新文學尚屬於完全被包含在社會運動之內、努力尋求方向與定位的初創階段，都市的現代性經驗尚未完全為作家正視；但隨著1923年的關東大震災與帝都復興、以及二、三○年代臺灣都市現代化的急速發展，原本處於素樸狀態的都市書寫也產生的變化。第二個時期是都市書寫的黃金時期，都市現代性經驗受到作家的高度重視並成為作品中的主要題材。帝都書寫方面，作家透過一種更個人的、更貼近日常生活的方式表現東京的「都市現代性經驗」，並逐漸產生一種類似於西方語境中反抗中產階級價值觀的「美學概念的現代性」，成為臺灣現代主義文學的濫觴之一；至於啟蒙、反殖民的殖民地處境思考，則成為潛文本存在於作品之中。島都╱臺灣都市書寫方面：多數仍在左翼、反殖民的思考脈絡中進行；三○年代中期出現「地誌化」的都市書寫，透過「一座城市的身世」，作家試圖在殖民者的「去歷史」與「進步論述」中重新奪回臺灣歷史的書寫權、詮釋權，主人公的都市現代性經驗於是成為一種「政治隱喻」；另外，三○年代中期臺灣都市摩登的強勢進駐與消費文化的成熟無可避免地迫使作家改變其觀看、感知、書寫都市的方式，部分作品已呈現出一種「左翼＋新感覺」的史芬克斯狀態。與同時期的帝都書寫作比較，「殖民地」的都市現代性經驗雖然說沒有導致美學概念現代性的「現代主義文學」形成，但是島內作家對感覺世界、心理世界的探索；運用新感覺派的表現手法；還有對都市現代性經驗的重視，已經可以看作是一種發展出殖民地現代主義文學的徵兆──只是這個極具潛力的發展卻因為一九三七年戰爭的爆發而中斷；以都市為主體的現代主義小說，沒有在日治時期的臺灣島內正式成形。This research tried to construct the develop track of urban writing of Taiwan new literature from 20’s to 30’s. On the basis, I resurveyed the previous research on history of Taiwan literature during Japanese period, which is revolved around the traditional countryside and the pauperism. Furthermore, this thesis would reflect the contemporary discourse on colonial modernity under the grand narrative of national perspective, de-colonization, and resistance spirit.
Urban writing in colonial Taiwan is almost born at the same time with Taiwan new literature, and established the dual-system of urban Tokyo and Taiwan. These two lines do not form a kind of parallel construction, but a multiple power consturction, which is a “motherland capital to colony capital” relationship in colonialism, and also an “advanced country to backward country” relationship in the process of modernization.
The development of urban writings in 1922-1937 can be approximately divided into two periods by 1933, the year when magazine “Formosa” began its publication in Tokyo. In the first period (1922-1932), owing to the new establishment, Taiwan new literature was included in social activities and still groping about its own way, and urban modernity experience was also not taken seriously by authors. However, with the “Great Kanto Earthquake” happened in 1923, the urban reconstruction after it, and the highly expansion of urban modernization in Taiwan in the 20’s-30’s, the plain, rough condition of urban writing was shifted. The second period (1933-1937) is the golden age of urban writing, when urban modernity experience was highly emphasized by authors and thus became an important motif in literature. In Empire capital writing’s situation, authors represented the urban modernity experience of Tokyo though a way which was more personal, and closer to daily life. Furthermore, urban writing brought a kind of aesthetic modernity, which was against the bourgeoisie values, and similar to that in western conditions. The aesthetic modernity became one of the sources of Taiwan modernist literature, and their thinking of the colonized situation a subtext of fictions. In view of Island capital / Taiwan modern urban writing, most of them were written with the left wing and the anti-colonialism conciousness. In the mid 30’s, a kind of urban topographical writing appeared. Through the antecedents of colonial urban, authors tried to recapture the right of writing and interpretation of Taiwan history from the Japanese colonists, and the urban modernity experience of characters thus became a political metaphor. Thus, due to the expansion of urban modernization and the maturity of consumer society, authors were forced to change their ways of viewing, perceiving, and writing, some of the fictions displayed a marvelous integration of “leftism as well as modernism” like a Sphinx. Compared to the empire capital writing at the same age, although the experience of urban modernity in colonial Taiwan did not straightly result in modernist literature, the exploration to the inner world, the application to modernism penmanship, and the emphasis on urban modernity experience of the authors inside colonial Taiwan could be seen as the forerunner of colonial modernist literature. Unfortunately, the potential development was interrupted by the war in 1937. The urban modernist literature did not fully develop in colonial Taiwan during Japanese period.